Managers

30 Reasons Employers Hate Their Managers: What Your People May Be Thinking and What You Can Do About It

From Amazon.com: Quietly seething...secretly resenting...and ultimately affecting performance, employees’ negative feelings toward their managers can lurk beneath the surface of even the most pleasant-seeming work relationships. These issues, if gone unchecked, can result in organizational catastrophe. To find out what’s really going on, the authors surveyed more than 50,000 employees in 65 organizations of all types and sizes, and discovered the 30 main causes of ill will. This book provides solutions for these fundamental symptoms of employee-manager discomfort, including employees’ sense that: they're being treated like children, their contributions aren't respected, their manager doesn't listen to them, senior managers are incompetent, they lack the resources and training they need to do their jobs well, they get insufficient feedback, their pay isn't fairly linked to job performance, they are burdened by heavy workloads or inflexible schedules. Featuring real-life examples, this eye-opening book empowers managers to make their workplaces more productive, congenial, and satisfying for their people and for themselves.

101 Tough Conversations to Have With Employees

From Amazon.com: Inappropriate attire, lateness, sexually offensive behavior, not to mention productivity and communication issues...these are just a few of the uncomfortable topics bosses must sometimes discuss with their employees. "101 Tough Conversations to Have with Employees" offers realistic sample dialogues managers can use to facilitate clear, direct interactions with their employees, helping them sidestep potential awkwardness and meet issues head-on. This practical, solution-oriented book walks readers through some of the most common as well as the most serious employee problems they are likely to encounter. Covering everything from substandard performance reviews to personal hygiene to termination meetings, this handy guide helps managers treat their people with dignity, focusing not just on what to say but how to say it. This helpful book provides proven techniques managers can use to protect themselves and their organizations...and get the very best from their people.

Crossing the Generational Divide: Managing the Modern Workforce

From the Center for Generational Studies: Crossing the Generational Divide contains all you really need to know about managing generational diversity packed into a one-hour read. It is crammed with a heavy dose ofpractical strategies that will leave you with the tools you need for dealing successfully with those of different ages. Discover the challenges and opportunities when people, values, trends and technologies all come together in your organization.

According to Pink (A Whole New Mind), everything we think we know about what motivates us is wrong. He pits the latest scientific discoveries about the mind against the outmoded wisdom that claims people can only be motivated by the hope of gain and the fear of loss. Pink cites a dizzying number of studies revealing that carrot and stick can actually significantly reduce the ability of workers to produce creative solutions to problems. What motivates us once our basic survival needs are met is the ability to grow and develop, to realize our fullest potential. Case studies of Google's 20 percent time (in which employees work on projects of their choosing one full day each week) and Best Buy's Results Only Work Environment (in which employees can work whenever and however they choose—as long as they meet specific goals) demonstrate growing endorsement for this approach. A series of appendixes include further reading and tips on applying this method to businesses, fitness and child-rearing. Drawing on research in psychology, economics and sociology, Pink's analysis—and new model—of motivation offers tremendous insight into our deepest nature.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

From Amazon.com: According to Pink (A Whole New Mind), everything we think we know about what motivates us is wrong. He pits the latest scientific discoveries about the mind against the outmoded wisdom that claims people can only be motivated by the hope of gain and the fear of loss. Pink cites a dizzying number of studies revealing that carrot and stick can actually significantly reduce the ability of workers to produce creative solutions to problems. What motivates us once our basic survival needs are met is the ability to grow and develop, to realize our fullest potential. Case studies of Google's 20 percent time (in which employees work on projects of their choosing one full day each week) and Best Buy's Results Only Work Environment (in which employees can work whenever and however they choose—as long as they meet specific goals) demonstrate growing endorsement for this approach. A series of appendixes include further reading and tips on applying this method to businesses, fitness and child-rearing. Drawing on research in psychology, economics and sociology, Pink's analysis—and new model—of motivation offers tremendous insight into our deepest nature.

The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention: Cutting-edge strategies for keeping your best people

From Amazon.com: A Leadership IQ study found that 47% of high performers are actively seeking other jobs while an additional 44% are passively looking. Every organization wants to retain their employees, especially their best employees. But most leaders are making mistakes. We studied more than 100,000 leaders to identify the Deadly Sins of Employee Retention. These are the five mistakes that can destroy the retention efforts of organizations and their leaders. This book will challenge some of the most entrenched and misguided beliefs about employee retention. We'll show you how to avoid the Deadly Sins of Employee Retention and teach you five cutting-edge strategies for keeping your best people. Individual leaders and entire organizations can transform their retention efforts immediately.

Effective Group Coaching

From Amazon.com: The fast-growing field of group coaching is attracting coaches, trainers and facilitators to its fold to meet the increasing demand of organizations that see the enhanced learning, efficiencies and cost-savings that group coaching offers. Jennifer J. Britton was an early adopter and wrote Effective Group Coaching to provide an understanding of the methodology, tools and resources to coaches and trainers who wish to expand into this field or deepen their experience. Effective Group Coaching is a valuable primer and reference guide that addresses these key points: What is group coaching and is it right for you?, What is the business case for group coaching?, The dynamics of group learning, The core skills and best practices of group coaching, How to design you own group coaching program, Delivery options: tips for in-person and virtual offerings, How to market your group coaching program, The logistics of implementing and running your program, and A tool kit of exercises you can adopt for your group coaching program. Effective Group Coaching is bursting with how-tos, checklists, takeaways and enlightening real-life experiences from some of North America’s top group coaches. It is a hands-on, comprehensive and practical volume that will prove indispensable for coaches, trainers, facilitators and HR professionals who want to incorporate group coaching as a primary methodology to elevate learning and productivity in the workplace.

Emotional Intelligence

From Amazon.com: The Western cultures esteem analytical skills measured by IQ tests: but there is clearly more to success and happiness, even in technological societies, than IQ alone. Goleman has written one of the best books on the nature and importance of other kinds of intelligence besides our perhaps overly beloved IQ.

Executive Intelligence

From Amazon.com: Executive Intelligence is about the substance behind great leadership. Inspired by the work of Peter Drucker and Jim Collins, Justin Menkes set out to isolate the qualities that make for the 'right' people. Drawing on his background in psychology and bolstered by interviews with accomplished CEOs, Menkes paints the portrait of the ideal executive.

HBR Guide to Coaching Employees

From Amazon.com: As a manager in today’s business world, you can’t just tell your direct reports what to do: You need to help them make their own decisions, enable them to solve tough problems, and actively develop their skills on the job. Whether you have a star on your team who’s eager to advance, an underperformer who’s dragging the group down, or a steady contributor who feels bored and neglected, you need to coach them: Help shape their goals—and support their efforts to achieve them.

HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across

From Amazon.com: To achieve your goals and get ahead, you need to rally people behind you and your ideas. But how do you do that when you lack formal authority? Or when you have a boss who gets in your way? Or when you’re juggling others’ needs at the expense of your own? By managing up, down, and across the organization. Your success depends on it, whether you’re a young professional or an experienced leader.

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence (with featured article "What Makes a Leader?" by Daniel Goleman)

From Amazon.com: In his defining work on emotional intelligence, bestselling author Daniel Goleman found that it is twice as important as other competencies in determining outstanding leadership. If you read nothing else on emotional intelligence, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you boost your emotional skills—and your professional success.

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want

From Amazon.com: Study after study confirms that career development is the single most powerful tool managers have for driving retention, engagement, productivity, and results. Nevertheless, it’s frequently back-burnered. When asked why, managers say the number one reason is that they just don’t have time—for the meetings, the forms, the administrative hoops. But there’s a better way. And it’s surprisingly simple: frequent short conversations with employees about their career goals and options integrated seamlessly into the normal course of business.

Hey Dude: Managing Age Diversity Today's Workplace (DVD Series)

Show this video during a supervisors’ meeting. Use it as an instructional module. Send it home with a manager who’s struggling to understand younger employees. Save time and money along with boosting productivity and profits by including this package in your next in-house training program.

Love 'em or Lose 'em: Getting Good People to Stay

From Amazon.com: Because finding the ideal person for every workplace position has become an increasingly difficult task, the retention of top employees has become every manager's concern. Love 'Em or Lose 'Em, by organizational-development specialists Beverly L. Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans, proposes that this "race for talent" can be effectively run only by those who adopt programs and policies that truly support their personnel. It then shows how to do so, even in organizations reluctant to participate actively.

Social Intelligence: The Revolutionary New Science of human Relationships

From Publishers Weekly: In this companion volume to his bestseller, Emotional Intelligence, Goleman persuasively argues for a new social model of intelligence drawn from the emerging field of social neuroscience. Describing what happens to our brains when we connect with others, Goleman demonstrates how relationships have the power to mold not only human experience but also human biology. In lucid prose he describes from a neurobiological perspective sexual attraction, marriage, parenting, psychopathic behaviors and the group dynamics of teachers and workers. Goleman frames his discussion in a critique of society's creeping disconnection in the age of the iPod, constant digital connectivity and multitasking. Vividly evoking the power of social interaction to influence mood and brain chemistry, Goleman discusses the "toxicity" of insult and unpleasant social experience as he warns of the dangers of self-absorption and poor attention and reveals the positive effects of feel-good neurochemicals that are released in loving relationships and in caregiving. Drawing on numerous studies, Goleman illuminates new theories about attachment, bonding, and the making and remaking of memory as he examines how our brains are wired for altruism, compassion, concern and rapport. The massive audience for Emotional Intelligence will revel in Goleman's latest passionately argued case for the benefits to society of empathetic social attunement. (Oct. 3) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave

From Amazon.com: "In this book Leigh has turned the tables on retention. His concept of pull versus push factors is a great insight. Many people are not pulled out of an organization by a better offer. They are pushed to the door so that when a better offer comes along it is easy to take the last step across the threshold. Every one of the seven reasons Leigh cites for turnover are preventable and not expensive. From selection for fit, to on-the-job support, to being valued, the organization has the power to keep almost anyone they want. Having outlined the problem, Leigh then provides over 50 ways to engage and keep people. This is an invaluable guidebook on retention." -- Dr. Jac Fitz-enz, Founder & CEO, Human Capital Source; author of The ROI of Human Capital

The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Application

From Amazon.com: 'For coaches interested in learning how we got to where we are, or developing their coaching skills, this a fascinating read. As well as dealing with the psychological fields of the person-centered approach, cognitive psychology, family therapy and systems thinking, hypnotic communication , social psychology and the existential stance the difference between coaching and counseling, lessons from the athletic coaches, ethics in coaching and making the transition from the world of therapy to the workplace world of the corporate coach. This is a serious, but not difficult read. Not for the general reader, but well worthwhile to anyone who takes executive coaching seriously. It could well become a standard text on courses for executive coaches.' - Richard Winfield, Corporate Change from Brefi Group

Smart Hiring

From Amazon.com: Wendover lays out a hiring method and some techniques for hiring better employees. If you hire people, and if finding the right people is important to you, this is a must-have book.

The Two Minute Motivator: How to Inspire Superior Performance

From the Center for Generational Studies: Two Minute Motivation is not simply a two minute activity. It is a series of two-minute opportunities which will help you better understand others -- their biases and behaviors -- and will give you specific strategies for dealing with them effectively. You'll learn how to arouse better productivity and increased morale by applying these principles. Read this book, and re-frame your approach to motivating those with whom you work every day. Grasp the concepts and discover abundant new ways for inspiring outstanding performance.

Working With Emotional Intelligence

From Publishers Weekly: Applying the lessons of his bestselling study Emotional Intelligence, Goleman has found that business success stems primarily from a workforce displaying initiative and empathy, adaptability and persuasiveness i.e., key aspects of what he defines as emotional intelligence. He presents studies that show that IQ accounts for only between 4% and 25% of an individual's job success, whereas emotional competence (self-awareness, self-regulation and motivation) is twice as important as purely cognitive abilities in the workplace. These findings alone should shake up human resource departments that hire based on how good someone looks on paper. In sections like "Self-Mastery," "People Skills" and "Social Radar," Goleman uses anecdotes from the corporate trenches (and from his lecture tours) to isolate qualities, such as "trustworthiness" that are central to displays of emotional intelligence. These qualities, in turn, are broken down into sets of practices?"Act ethically and... above reproach"; "respect and relate well to people from other backgrounds"?that can be internalized for improved emotional intelligence quotients by individuals looking to get ahead, or managers seeking to revitalize the staff. These repetitive-sounding checklists can at times give the book the flavor of an overworked seminar presentation. Still, embedded within the linear format that emerges are many truly illuminating facts that the real cost of employee turnover to a company is the equivalent of one full year of employee pay, for example that show how critically important Goleman's thesis is to today's workplace. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.